


And she said, "No."

by mayaaminmin



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Depression, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Violence, Introspection, Non-Graphic Violence, Platonic Relationships, Purge SMP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29262657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayaaminmin/pseuds/mayaaminmin
Summary: "What's the point of this life, Chilled?" Shubble runs her hands through her hair. "Why are we here? Why do we have to fight? Why can't we just live together in harmony?""That's just how it is, Shubble." Chilled places an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close, "Nobody would choose this if they could. Fight it all you want, but we gotta do what we gotta do to survive."She remembers her old lives. Lives full of friendship and love and peace and happiness. She wonders if she could bring those into this life.Will you fight? Or will you fall?And she said, "No."
Relationships: Shelby Grace | Shubbleyt & Anthony | ChilledChaos
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	And she said, "No."

**Author's Note:**

> i had a headcanon that in the Purge SMP, everyone regularly gets consumed by bloodlust or something because of a higher power and that's why they have Purge days where they go and kill each other. then i was Going Through It(TM) for a while and projected onto Shubble aka my fave streamer and this happened. I hope you enjoy!

Shubble sits at the base of a cliff and casts her fishing line into the waters below. She watches the red and white bob float languidly in the blue sea and waits patiently for a nibble. The lava pouring down of the side of the mountain illuminates the dark waters, and if she concentrates, she can almost make out the broken armor and weapons her team discarded after a particularly rough Purge. They fought against a group for hours until they decided to retreat, but before they could celebrate, a group with much better gear than they did must have sensed their exhaustion, and decided to attack. Luckily, they all made it out alive with only some injuries, but their armor was far too damaged and nothing was salvageable from that. Despite how carefully she'd reinforced the metal while crafting it into armor, iron was simply no match for netherite.

 _Ze and I should go netherite mining soon_ , Shubble makes a mental note of that and quickly pulls back the reel when she feels a small tug. She pulls hard and catches a big cod. It struggles in her grasp but she removes the hook from its mouth and tosses it into the bucket beside her. Its glassy eyes stare into her own, and she turns back to the sea and casts her line again.

She mourns the loss of iron, but it's no matter, after spending several days deep in the mountains they made their home in, Shubble had collected enough diamonds to make a full set of armor as well as tools for her team. In fact, Ze and Chilled were busy processing the ores in their base above. It would take a long time to break the diamonds into workable pieces, but thankfully the boys volunteered to do that so Shubble could relax and unwind with some fishing.

She spends the rest of the afternoon fishing, collecting a lot of food, scrap, and junk, and the occasional treasure. She reeled in some name tags, a saddle, and a few enchanted books. She'll have to check the enchantments in the glowing tomes once the pages have dried. As she fishes by the sea, she hears Chilled and Ze loudly bickering with one another from high above, and it brings back forgotten memories of a past life. An easier life. A life bursting with color and magic. A life full of many strange and wonderful things to learn and explore and craft. A life spent with two bright and bubbly girls who were no less wild, fun, and adventurous as the boys she met in this new life.

They made a pact to stay together, they were friends with everyone in that world, but held each other especially close.

She misses that old life, but all things must come to an end eventually. One can only escape death so many times, especially after he grants you so many second chances.

She only wishes she had someone to share these memories with.

Oftentimes, when she was reborn, there was somebody from a past life there as well. She spent several lives with a group of rowdy boys who seeked adventure and adrenaline before the universe decided they were destined for different things. She cherishes the silly and cheerful artists that taught her to create beautiful buildings and structures out of the colorful materials in the worlds they ended up in. And she has come to expect a sassy and fun, hardworking and creative, teal-loving boy in most of these.

But none of the people in this new world were familiar to her.

Her soul is one of the older ones in this world. In fact, this world is full of people who have only recently been born in the universe.

All worlds are unique. Some are calm and peaceful, while others only know war and bloodshed.

This world is one of violence.

What a terrible first life for these poor new souls.

Shubble is pulled out of her thoughts by a hand on her shoulders. She grabs the wrist and pulls it down, then wraps her arms around the torso of the offender. She rolls forward and throws the man into the sea. Shubble stands, grabs her bow and nocks an arrow, and prepares to interrogate the-

"Chilled?"

"What the fuck, Shubble!" Chilled says indignantly as he sputters in the water. "Why did you do that!"

"I'm sorry, I thought-"

"Nevermind, just pull me out before I freeze my ass off!"

"Shit, right! Sorry! I'm sorry!"

Shubble drops her bow and quickly pulls her teammate out of the water.

"Jeez, remind me not to get on your bad side." Chilled shakes the water out of his hair before turning to Shubble, "So what's got you so distracted that you didn't hear my big feet stomping around right behind you?"

Shubble sits back down on the cobblestone ground and takes a deep breath.

"What are we doing here, Chilled?"

"Well, you're here because you wanted to fish, and I'm here because Ze told me to help you bring back the loot." Chilled picks up a damp enchanted book and tries reading the old stained ink. "Hey, I think this one has Sharpness 5, you could add it to your—"

"No, I mean—" Shubble runs her hands through her hair, "—what's the point of this life, Chilled?"

Chilled sits down beside her and laughs awkwardly, "You becoming a philosopher now, Shubble? I'll be honest, I never pegged you for one of those boring old thinker types."

"I'm serious, Chilled," Shubble turns to her friend, "Why are we here? Why do we have to fight? Why can't we just live together in harmony?"

Memories of a beautiful white house, of a husband and a daughter, flash in her mind for a moment. Then it's gone as quickly as it came.

"I just don't understand." Shubble hugs her legs and rests her chin on her knees, "Why are we forced to fight every week? What sick god decided to use us like, like _puppets_ for their entertainment? Why?"

Shubble remembers the first Purge.

Ze and Chilled's eyes had turned dark crimson overnight, and when she glanced into the water, her once brown eyes had changed to the color of blood, as well. It must have happened to everyone else, too. She remembers dozens of jewel-toned eyes gathering at Spawn that day. She remembers the bloodlust and violence that consumed her mind, body, and soul. She remembers the glint of a sword in her hands and screams rage ringing all throughout Spawn.

She doesn't remember what happened after. She only remembers that when the sun had set, her eyes were no longer stained red, but her clothes and the grass around her was.

She doesn't want to remember what happened if she's being honest.

"I was excited to meet these new people and make some friends," Shubble confesses, "I didn't expect to spend the rest of my waking life watching my back for an arrow."

"That's just how it is, Shubble." Chilled places an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close, "Nobody would choose this if they could."

"I know." Shubble leans into Chilled. "I just don't like it."

"Fight it all you want, but we gotta do what we gotta do to survive," Chilled says with a half-shrug.

"They're not bad people, though." Shubble tries to reason with the sick gods, with the indifferent universe, with herself. "None of them are. They're not in their right minds on the Purge"

"Nobody can resist the bloodlust," Chilled agrees regretfully, "not even us."

"We're not so innocent either, Shubble."

"Does that make us all bad people?" Shubble asks, finally voicing her deepest fear as tears of frustration begin forming in her eyes.

"No, it just makes us people," Chilled reassures her, "we're all just people. We do what we do to survive, and hope that it's enough."

"I wish I could tell you that there was something we could do," Chilled says and squeezes Shubble's shoulder, "but that's just the way it is."

Shubble curls even more into herself and mumbles quietly, so Chilled doesn't hear, "It doesn't have to be, though."

She remembers her old lives. Lives full of friendship and love and peace and happiness. She wonders if she could bring those into this life. After all, she met Ze and Chilled here, they've made an alliance with the Crew, and she managed to befriend some cool and interesting people in between the Purges.

Chilled believes that war and violence and bloodshed are all this world has to offer, but Shubble knows otherwise. She's seen and lived through more than he has. She knows that friendship and love and peace and happiness can exist anywhere, even in this grim, dark world. She'll make sure of it.

**Author's Note:**

> so if you couldn't tell, the state of the world and this pandemic got me really down and depressed. i was debating on making a sad ending for this, but in the end, i decided that a hopeful ending was better, at least for me. but i had lots of sad dark angsty depressing thoughts while writing this that i projected onto the characters because that's how i cope with things <3
> 
> anyway, I hope you enjoyed! kudos and comments are always appreciated <3 and you can find me on @mayaaminmin on tumblr!


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